These days, a multitude of electrically supplied supplementary systems is installed in a vehicle. The electrical supply of these supplementary systems, which are also referred to as electrical consumers, is usually implemented via the vehicle battery, which in turn may be supplied or recharged from other energy sources. Apart from infotainment devices, navigation systems or communication systems, in particular, the most common consumers also are air-conditioning systems for controlling the climate inside the vehicle.
The number of electrical consumers is only going to increase in the future. Climate control systems, in particular, are used to an increasing extent in motor vehicles. In view of the rising number and prevalence of such consumers, it will be necessary, in particular, to consider the additionally resulting energy consumption in the overall energy consumption of the vehicle.
This additional energy consumption not only leads to generally increasing costs, but also reduces the travel range of the vehicle. This has a negative effect especially on vehicles that are driven directly by an electric motor. The reason for this is that in the early phase of electromobility, the travel ranges of such vehicles are currently considerably lower than those of vehicles driven by an internal combustion engine. On the other hand, the provision of corresponding charging stations for charging the vehicle battery is still not fully adequate at present. Therefore, it is desirable to provide the driver with very precise information about the expected travel range of the vehicle, and possibly suggest ways in which this travel range is able to be increased.
European Patent Document No. 2 028 059 describes a vehicle having a plurality of connectable or disconnectable systems, whose operation increases the fuel consumption. The energy consumption of the individual systems can be determined and displayed individually, e.g., in liters per hour, liters per 100 km, or as a percentage of an assumed maximum value.
German Patent Document No. 101 38 750 describes a method for displaying energy consumers inside a vehicle. In so doing, the consumption data of different consumers are determined and the individual consumption, as well as the increase in travel range that is achievable by deactivating the consumers, is displayed in the form of a list.